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'Anti-Worker' Trudeau Forces Arbitration on Union in Industry-Backed Bid to Start Trains
"The Liberal government's decision to undermine 9,300 Canadian rail workers with binding arbitration sends a message to big corporations: Being a bad boss pays off," said the leader of the New Democratic Party.
Aug 23, 2024
The Canadian government on Thursday moved to end a lockout of workers at the country's two major rail corporations by forcing the two sides into arbitration, drawing sharp criticism from the union, which is challenging the move, and left-leaning political figures, including an ally of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out about 9,300 engineers, conductors, and yard workers starting Thursday morning, shutting down the vast majority of the country's freight operations—a major disruption to the national economy and supplies chains across North America. The two sides had failed to reach a labor agreement after months of negotiating.
Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon made the announcement Thursday afternoon, referring the arbitration to the Canada Industrial Relations Board and ordering previous collective bargaining agreements to be extended until the CIRB process is complete. He said he expected trains to be running again within days.
The government's move was widely seen as a victory for company executives and a loss for 9,300 workers, whom worker advocates say were effectively stripped of their right to collectively bargain.
"By resorting to binding arbitration, the government has allowed CN and CPKC to sidestep a union determined to protect rail safety," Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) president Paul Boucher said in a statement. "Despite claiming to value and honor the collective bargaining process, the federal government quickly used its authority to suspend it, mere hours after an employer-imposed work stoppage."
Teamsters Canada Rail Conference's announced Friday it would challenge the constitutionality of the government move.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party, which Trudeau's centrist Liberal Party relies on for voting support in Parliament, was blisteringly critical of his strategic ally following the government's announcement.
"The Liberal [government's] decision to undermine 9,300 Canadian rail workers with binding arbitration sends a message to big corporations like CN and CPKC: Being a bad boss pays off," Singh wrote on social media. "Justin Trudeau's actions are cowardly, anti-worker, and proof that he will always cave to corporate greed."
The Liberal govt's decision to undermine 9,300 Canadian rail workers with a binding arbitration sends a message to big corporations like CN & CPKC:
Being a bad boss pays off
Justin Trudeau's actions are cowardly, anti-worker, & proof that he will always cave to corporate greed. pic.twitter.com/p7U1mE4hlv
— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) August 22, 2024
Singh, a member of Parliament from the Vancouver metropolitan area, had warned Trudeau earlier in the week not to intervene, arguing that there was an ugly history of the Canadian government doing so in favor of industry interests. Trudeau and other government officials had said, before Thursday afternoon, that they preferred the two sides hash out their differences at the negotiating table.
However, the train stoppage led to mounting industry pressure, not just from the rail companies but also broader business interests who expressed concern about the impact on Canada's export-driven economy. Media outlets in Canada and the U.S. focused on the potential downsides of a protracted stoppage. Half of the Canada's exports are moved by rail, according to a railway industry lobby group, and more than $700 million USD worth of goods move on the country's tracks per day.
"The two major railways in Canada manufactured this crisis, took the country hostage, and manipulated the government to once again disregard the rights afforded to working-class Canadians," said Boucher, the union leader. "The TCRC is deeply disappointed by this shameful decision."
Rail operations remained in a complicated limbo on Friday as TCRC seemingly figured out how to react to the government's move. Initially, the union announced that while the CPKC work stoppage was ongoing, pending CIRB action, its CN members would resume work—and the company's trains began running across Canada at 7:00am—but later in the morning the union issued a 72-hour strike notice to CN.
The labor dispute centers on worker hours and conditions, and has parallels to a U.S. dispute in 2022, in which the U.S. government also stepped in to force a deal, angering many union leaders and working-class advocates.
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Canadian Rail Companies Lock Out Workers. Union Says They're Holding the Economy 'Hostage'
"The railroads don't care about farmers, small businesses, supply chains, or their own employees," a union president said. "Their sole focus is boosting their bottom line, even if it means jeopardizing the entire economy."
Aug 22, 2024
Both of Canada's major freight rail companies—key cogs in North America's supply chains—locked out workers and shut down operations on Thursday due to a labor dispute over worker hours and conditions, as a union leader said the companies were holding the Canadian economy "hostage."
The unprecedented stoppage comes with high stakes for the 9,300 affected engineers, conductors, and yard workers—and the country's export-driven economy. The two companies, Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), own almost all of the tracks and haul more than $700 million USD worth of goods per day.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents the affected workers across both companies, said the two corporations had refused many of its "good faith" offers.
"Neither CN nor CPKC has relented on their push to weaken protections around rest periods and scheduling, increasing the risk of fatigue-related safety issues," the union said in a statement.
Paul Boucher, the union's president, said that "CN and CPKC have shown themselves willing to compromise rail safety and tear families apart to earn an extra buck. The railroads don't care about farmers, small businesses, supply chains, or their own employees. Their sole focus is boosting their bottom line, even if it means jeopardizing the entire economy."
🚂 The men and women who keep our CN and CPKC trains running want decent working conditions that ensure safety for us all🚨. It’s time to give them our support.💪#Canlab pic.twitter.com/bGXQC1yuo1
— Teamsters Canada (@TeamstersCanada) August 21, 2024
Boucher said in a video statement on social media that the companies were holding Canada's economy "hostage" in an attempt to get the federal government, led by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to force a binding arbitration agreement on the workers, an idea that business groups such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce support.
So far, Trudeau's government hasn't done so and has instead pressured the two sides to come to a deal.
"Millions of Canadians, of workers, of farmers, of businesses right across the country are counting on both sides to do the work and get to a resolution," Trudeau told reporters Wednesday.
The Liberals, a centrist party, rely on the votes of the smaller New Democratic Party in Parliament. NDP was founded in part by organized labor and has warned Trudeau not to force the rail employees back to work.
"For too long we have seen Liberals and Conservatives interfere in these types of labor disputes to the advantage of the employer, to the detriment of the worker," Jagmeet Singh, NDP's leader, told reporters on Monday. "That is wrong, and we will oppose that."
In 2022, the U.S. federal government did take such action in a railway labor dispute. The U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden forced railworkers into an agreement that four key unions didn't agree to—angering many working-class Americans and progressive advocates, who argued that the right to strike had been nullified by the government intervention.
Canada has previously seen such federal interventions—or the threat of them, which can force workers' hand in negotiations—but in the past, disputes have occurred with just one of the major rail companies or the other, with their contracts expiring in alternating years.
This time, the timing has allowed for an industry-wide dispute, and a larger transportation disruption, including not just freight rail but also some passenger rail services that operate on lines owned by the two companies. There are no traffic controllers on the CPKC tracks, so passenger rail can't operate, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The companies have used the disruption as part of the rationale for government action. CPKC openly called for binding arbitration on Thursday, saying in a statement that an agreement is "not within reach" and that the union "continues to make unrealistic demands that would fundamentally impair the railway's ability to serve our customers with a reliable and cost-competitive transportation service."
The union argues that CPKC wants to "gut the collective agreement of all safety-critical fatigue provisions" and CN is trying to extend work days in western provinces, raising what the union calls a "a fatigue-related safety risk," The Guardian reported.
CN's net income for 2023 was $4 billion USD, while CPKC's was $2.9 billion USD.
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Derailment Spree Proves Railway Regulations Urgently Needed, Say Union Members
"These companies siphon billions into share buybacks, dividends, and bonuses rather than into the vital maintenance and infrastructure growth we need to build a safe, modern, and thriving rail industry," said one worker.
Apr 03, 2023
After at least six major freight train derailments occurred across the United States over the past week, the need for stronger rail safety rules couldn't be clearer, an interunion alliance of rail workers said Monday.
"The recent uptick in derailments across the U.S. highlights the dire need for stricter regulations on the length and weight of trains, as well as a focus on preventing unsafe operational practices such as precision scheduled railroading (PSR) which prioritizes short-term financial gains for Wall Street over the safety of communities and railroad workers," Jason Doering, a locomotive engineer and general secretary of Railroad Workers United (RWU), said in a statement.
The past week "was not a good one" for the nation's Class 1 rail carriers, RWU observed.
On Sunday, March 26, a Canadian Pacific train carrying hazardous materials careened off the tracks outside Wyndmere, North Dakota, spilling liquid asphalt and ethylene glycol and releasing propylene vapor.
Last Monday, a Union Pacific iron ore train reached 118 miles per hour as it ran away down Cima Hill in the Mojave Desert before wrecking on a curve, destroying two locomotives and 55 cars in San Bernardino County, California.
On Wednesday, a Canadian National iron ore train derailed in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
On Thursday, a BNSF train carrying ethanol and corn syrup crashed near Raymond, Minnesota, causing a fire that forced local residents to flee.
On Friday, a Norfolk Southern train went off the tracks in Irondale, Alabama.
One day ago, a train operated by the Class 2 regional Montana Rail Link—soon to be owned by BNSF—derailed on the banks of the Clark Fork River in Paradise, Montana.
"The recent uptick in derailments across the U.S. highlights the dire need for stricter regulations on the length and weight of trains, as well as a focus on preventing unsafe operational practices such as precision scheduled railroading."
"Rail workers are not surprised to see the dramatic increase in rail incidents following the widespread cuts to the industry," said locomotive engineer and RWU steering committee member Paul Lindsey.
"Each year these companies siphon billions into share buybacks, dividends, and bonuses rather than into the vital maintenance and infrastructure growth we need to grow a safe, modern, and thriving rail industry," Lindsey added.
Norfolk Southern has become the poster child for freight industry greed as the toxic aftermath of February's fiery train derailment and ensuing chemical spill and burnoff continues to unfold in East Palestine, Ohio.
Questioned last month at a U.S. Senate hearing about the ongoing public health and environmental disaster, Norfolk Southern president and CEO Alan Shaw refused to commit to giving workers seven days of paid sick leave or halting stock buybacks.
More Perfect Union has calculated that payouts to Norfolk Southern's shareholders soared by more than 4,500% over the past 20 years, from $101 million in stock repurchases and dividend bumps in 2002 to $4.7 billion in 2022.
Shaw also refused to commit to ending PSR, the profit-maximizing scheduling system that forces fewer workers to manage longer trains in less time, even though unions and progressive lawmakers argue the Wall street-endorsed model makes the U.S. rail system more dangerous and contributes to the 1,500-plus derailments seen nationwide each year.
Although Norfolk Southern epitomizes how railroad executives prioritize profits above all else, the corporation is far from alone in pushing for deregulation and implementing anti-worker, pro-investor policies.
An OpenSecrets analysis published last month found that the rail industry spent more than $713 million lobbying against enhanced rail safety rules at the federal and state levels between 2002 and 2022. Top spenders include the Association of American Railroads trade group, CSX, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and BNSF's parent company Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett.
While RWU has made the case for nationalizing the railroads, it has also outlined a plan for reforms that can be quickly implemented in the absence of such a sweeping transformation. Specific provisions the alliance has called for include sufficient staffing; limits on train length and weight; adequate maintenance and inspections; and better training and employee benefits.
Last week, Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced the Railway Accountability Act, which includes some of the measures sought by RWU and is supported by unions including the Transport Workers of America (TWU), the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers (NCFO), and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Division (SMART-MD).
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